Thursday-Saturday, April 12-14, 2018
Princeton University
Sunday, April 15, 2018
New York University
María Irene Fornés (b. 1930, Havana, Cuba — 2018, New York City) is among the most influential American theater-makers of the twentieth century. A defining force within the off-off-Broadway movement of the 1960s and 1970s (and nine-time Obie Award winner), Fornés — as playwright, director, designer and teacher — became a guiding presence for emerging theater artists of the 1980s and 1990s, especially those invested in staging feminist, queer and latinx aesthetics and experiences. Fornés’ experiments in theatrical form and her transformative teaching techniques continue to challenge and inspire new generations of theater-makers today. Even so, the living legacy of María Irene Fornés remains remarkably under-acknowledged among contemporary theater artists, students and scholars. Currently 87 years old, Fornés resides on the upper West Side of Manhattan. Due to late stage Alzheimer’s disease, she is no longer writing or teaching.
In April 2018, multiple gatherings will activate broader awareness about Fornés’ multifaceted legacy among theater artists, scholars and students. On Saturday, April 14, Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Arts — in partnership with with the Latinx Theatre Commons (LTC) — will host the 2018 LTC María Irene Fornés Institute Symposium in Princeton, New Jersey. The 2018 LTC Fornés Symposium will convene an intergenerational “community gathering” of artists, academics, students, and others for a day of vigorous, Fornés-inspired creativity, conversation, and conviviality. On Sunday April 15, New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts will present a Colloquium on María Irene Fornés. The NYU Fornés Colloquium will feature a panel of experts on Fornés, a roundtable of women directors discussing the influence of Fornés’ directorial work, and a concert reading of Fornés’s musical Promenade. This constellation of events aims to gather Fornés’ students and collaborators — as well as those who have been inspired by her — to deepen understanding of her work and her methods, to document her enduring impact, and to extend her living legacy into the twenty-first century.
Please note that all events have separate registration processes — some are free and open to the public, some performances are ticketed and open to the public, and some events are closed to the public. Interlude sessions are open to pre-registrants with any remaining seats available free to the general public; non-registrants can sign up for seats in interlude sessions starting at 9 a.m. in the Forum at the Lewis Arts complex on a first-come, first-reserved basis.
On social media, share #fornesLTC18
SYMPOSIUM SCHEDULE*:
THURSDAY, APRIL 12
4:30 PM: Assistant Professor of Theater at Princeton Brian Herrera delivers the annual James Baldwin Lecture on “The Dramatist’s Call to Action” | 101 McCormick Hall, Princeton University
Free and open to the public.
Sponsored by Princeton University’s Department of African American Studies
FRIDAY, APRIL 13
4:30 PM: The Playwright’s Pedagogic Legacy: A Conversation with Migdalia Cruz & Mac Wellman. Moderated by Dr. Anne García-Romero | Wallace Theater, Lewis Arts complex, Princeton University
Free and open to the public. Event will also be live-streamed
SATURDAY, APRIL 14
Convening of the Latinx Theatre Commons | Princeton University
9 AM: Breakfast Buffet | Forum, Lewis Arts complex
9 AM: Legacy installation opens |Lewis Arts complex
10 AM: Opening Ceremony/Plenary Session 1 | Forum, Lewis Arts complex (also live stream; open to public)
11 AM: Break
11:15 AM: Interlude 1 | Lewis Arts complex
- Open to pre-registrants with any remaining seats available free to the general public; non-registrants can sign up for seats starting at 9 a.m. in the Forum on a first-come, first-reserved basis.
1 PM: Grab and Go Lunch | Forum, Lewis Arts complex
1 PM: Book Exhibition opens |Lewis Arts complex
2 PM: Interlude 2 | Lewis Arts complex
- Open to pre-registrants with any remaining seats available free to the general public; non-registrants can sign up for seats starting at 9 a.m. in the Forum on a first-come, first-reserved basis.
2 PM: Screening of The Rest I Make Up | Lewis Arts complex (open to public)
3:45 PM: Break
4 PM: Plenary Session 2 | Forum, Lewis Arts complex (also live stream; open to public)
5:30 PM: Closing Ceremony | Forum, Lewis Arts complex (also live stream; open to public)
6 PM: Dinner | Princeton University campus
6:30 PM: Legacy Installation and Book Exhibition close
8 PM: I am in Fifth Grade, You are in Kindergarten — Two One-acts by Cruz & Wellman in tribute to Fornés — The Book of Miaou: Don’t Drink Everything Your Mother Pours You & FNU LNU | Berlind Theatre, McCarter Theatre Center
- This is a ticketed event
8 PM: Fefu and Her Friends by María Irene Fornés | Maclean House
- This is a ticketed event
8 PM: Screening of The Rest I Make Up | Lewis Arts complex (open to public)
The 2018 Latinx Theater Commons María Irene Fornés Institute Symposium is presented by Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Arts in partnership with the Latinx Theater Commons (LTC) and is made possible with support from the Stephen Trask Lecture Series Fund, the Vice President for Campus Life, the Humanities Council, Center for Collaborative History, the Department of English, and the Programs in American Studies, Latino Studies, Gender and Sexuality Studies, and Latin American Studies.
Questions about the events on April 14th? For more information, please contact: Abigail Vega at abigail@howlround.com
SUNDAY, APRIL 15
Colloquium | New York University
See more details at http://tisch.nyu.edu/tisch-research-news-events/research-at-tisch/upcoming-events/fornes-colloquium
11 AM: The Evolution of Fornés Scholarship
- A panel of Fornés scholars from the 1980s, 90s, 2000s, and today. With Bonnie Marranca, Scott Cummings, Gwendolyn Aker, and Anne García-Romero, in conversation with Alisa Solomon.
12:30 PM: Lunch break
2-3:30 PM: A concert reading of Promenade
- Fornés’s musical from 1965, directed by Alice Reagan with musical direction by Nathan Koci.
4-5:30 PM: Women Directors on Fornés as Director
- Celebrated directors discuss the influence of Fornés’s work on their own. With Alice Reagan, Tina Satter, Gisela Cardenas, Katie Pearl, and Elena Araoz. Julia Jarcho chairs.
The NYU Colloquium is presented in partnership with the Latinx Theater Commons (LTC) and is made possible with support from the Drama Department, Institute of Performing Arts, Initiative for Creative Research and the Dean’s Office at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts; with further support from NYU’s Center for the Humanities.
Questions about the events on April 15th? Please contact: Gwendolyn Alker, Distinguished Teacher and Director of Theatre Studies, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University: fornessymposiumnyu@gmail.com
*Schedule details subject to change